Monday, February 28, 2011

There was a time in my life... pre-children... when we raced to the theater for opening night of pretty much whatever movie peaked our interest. The Oscars were our super bowl. Alas, the only nominated movie I had seen this year was Tangled. So we were completely in the dark, but still thankful to be invited to our friends' Oscar party.

I didn't have an opportunity to pick my favorite linked up project from last week's Your Way Wednesday post before I posted this week's. Soooo, I'm posting now:

Did you see this quilt Iron Violet Designs linked to? I so love how creative quilt design has become... that may be the wrong way to describe it, because quilting has tipped the creativity scales forever, but I just mean I really like how unique and different and many times so not traditional it's become. Iron Violet's Lissy's Flowers quilt is exactly what I'm talking about. Those pretty flowers are showing up in clothing design and craft projects and sewing all over the place, what a great idea to incorporate them into a quilt!

I have quilting on the brain lately though. I am so ridiculously excited about a project I have to show you that is completely done except for... you guessed it... hand sewing the binding on. I whipped up my biggest quilt yet in record time, I just couldn't put it down. But as soon as it was finished I felt like I did when I read the entire Twilight series in 2 weeks (between my full time job, being 4 months pregnant, and my then 3 year old), exhausted, and ready to rejoin my regularly scheduled life. But that's a post for another time... a time after it's finished and I find a big enough spot in my tiny house to actually take a picture of it.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

I don't get too carried away with the Valentine holiday. I always think of it as the perfect excuse for sweet little gestures. This year was no exception, these little (some might even say "Valentiny" heehee) projects were the extent of the Valentine celebration in our house.

We went to breakfast with some friends yesterday and I wanted to dress the girls a little festive (my friend Karie is one of the only people I know who would notice, let alone appreciate that sort of thing, so I couldn't waste the opportunity :)). Liv wore a red onesie with a little pink cupcake on it, a black jean skirt with a bleached out heart pattern, and the red and pink stripe leg warmers I made for Elle last year when I did my girls' Valentine pictures... did I ever post those??? Well can there really ever be too many pictures of adorable Valentiney girlie girls?! I think not, exhibit A (even though you can't see the leg warmers they're both wearing):

and exhibit B with the legwarmers:

But Elle didn't have anything particularly Valentiney, so I sewed a little loop in the center of a flower embellishment on the dress she wore at Christmas and clipped a little heart hair clip in the center:

Pay no attention to the jelly stain!

Elle and I paid a visit to my favorite scrapbook store (I am so lucky to live near an amazing scrapbook store, Whim-so-doodle and not so far from the most wonderful fabric shop I've ever been in, Rainbows End... they're a feast for my creative appetite!) and she picked out some materials to make Daddy a Valentine:

I bought a card for My Doug this year... I love and hate it when I find one with the just the right sentiment!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Elle's school has a "no candy" policy when it comes to holidays. I really appreciate that I don't have to convince my 5 year old to forfeit her candy, but it means we have to get creative when coming up with little treats, like Valentines. We considered doing melted crayons, like these we made a while back, but Elle had visions of stickers and more traditional Valentine goodies instead.

So we scoured the internet for funny (by Elle's standards) Valentine jokes, I printed them on red & pink cardstock, she decorated with stickers, and then we used a Martha Stewart punch around the page punch to decorate the edges.

Waalaa Valentiney bookmarks:

A little Valentine humor for you... 5 year old style:

Q - What do you call a very small Valentine?A - A Valentiny

Q - What did the boy squirrel say to the girl squirrel on Valentine's Day?A - I'm nuts about you!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

If you're a fan of link parties (and I hope you are!) by now you've probably seen someone posting about the fact that McLinky, a site that gave us bloggers a code to use to create these link parties, has started charging for it's code. So, I'll be paying to host these link parties in the future, but that's not really the point... for me anyway... I only mention it becuase McLinky took down all the previous link parties that were hosted by them so I can no longer see all the wonderful handmade goodies you all posted to my past parties, including last weeks. So, I can't feature my favorite one this week. Please forgive me and rest assured this link party will just get better and better (I'm not moving to a link list only... we'll continue to have thumbnails) and there'll be plenty of features to come! Without further ado, here's this week's link party:

Crafting is my way to relieve stress & stretch my creative muscles.Sewing is my way to have some uninterrupted time to myself.Bentos are my way to show Elle I'm thinking about her.Parties are my way to love on my girls & our friendsTutorials show my way of making this or that.

I want to see your way! I'm really excited to give you an opportunity to do just that in my link party:

Only two rules for you:

Add my lovely "Your Way Wednesday" button to your blog or blog post that you link up to

Please link directly to your blog post, not a giveaway, your link party, your Etsy shop, or even just the home page of your blog.

In exchange for following the rules, I'll leave a comment on your blog post & if you're my favorite post I'll feature you on my blog for my next Your Way Wednesday.

Monday, February 7, 2011

So I have a confession... I don't like to wear shoes. I even kick them off at my desk at work. The price I pay for comfort is grungy insoles. I'm gonna spare you the before pictures and get straight to the pretty after shots:

This was so simple, you're gonna want to do it to all your shoes! You just need some craft foam, (they sell sheets of it with a sticky side in packs of 18 at JoAnns and Michaels), a pair of pinking shears, some fabric scraps, and an insole. I smoothed out my fabric scraps onto the sticky side of the craft foam, pulled an insole out of an old pair of tennis shoes & used it as a template to cut the fabric covered craft foam with pinking shears.

About Me

Stacey is a business analyst by day and blogger/seamster/ crafter/party planner/aspiring Super Mom by night & weekends. When she's not solving fortune 500 companies system and process problems she's making whatever inspires her at the moment. Her uber supportive husband, Doug, and adorable daughters, Elle & Liv, are her motivation, inspiration, and sense of accomplishment.